


Endeavour: Depart

by Parakeetist



Category: Endeavour (TV), Inspector Morse & Related Fandoms, Inspector Morse (TV)
Genre: Breakups, Disasters, F/M, Getting Back Together, One Night Stands, Reading (city)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-03
Updated: 2019-10-03
Packaged: 2020-11-22 12:20:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20874110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Parakeetist/pseuds/Parakeetist
Summary: A run-in with a former encounter causes a great deal of pain for Morse - and someone else. Set after series five."Depart from me, you workers of iniquity, I never knew you." - Matthew 7:23





	Endeavour: Depart

Endeavour: Depart  
by Parakeetist

The detective sergeant left the station and strolled out into the hazy summer evening. He stuck his hands in his pockets. Cars clogged the streets. He smiled, without opening his lips. It was a trait everyone saw but few noticed.  
  
Some meters behind him, Joan Thursday got off the bus. She slung her jacket over her arm. Her father had told her not to bother to drop by, as he was working late, but she just wanted to ask him something. She needed a cosigner for the paperwork on a new flat. He and Mom were the best people to ask.  
  
They spotted one another at the same time. He nodded. She pursed her lips.  
  
Joan pointed to the station. “I’m just going in for a few minutes.” Morse nodded again. He waited for her on the sidewalk.  
  
A team of sparrows chased each other in a seasonal dance. Endeavour watched them flit from the pavement to a tree.  
  
Suddenly there was someone next to him. She was blonde, and had her hair up in a bun.  
  
“Hey,” she said. “How’ve you been?”  
  
She was Carol, Joan’s cousin, Charlie’s daughter. Endeavour’s face fell.  
  
“Ah, hello. Still here.” He flicked a quick grin, and tapped his foot.  
  
“What’cha been up to?”  
  
“Uh, not much, really. Work.”  
  
“Oh, you. Always the job. Can I get your attention again?”  
  
Before he could move back, she leaned in and kissed him on the lips. He stepped away from her.  
  
“Don’t do that, please.” His face twitched.  
  
“Why not? Don’t you want to be with me anymore?”  
  
“Be with you?”  
  
“Like we did that one night.” She grinned.  
  
Joan came out of the station. Her father had straight away told her to leave. She hadn’t even gotten to finish the question about the paperwork. She promised to call him later, then left.  
  
Walking down the steps, she was just in time to see Carol pull Endeavour in for a second kiss. This time, Carol stuck her tongue in his mouth.  
  
“Hey!” Endeavour snapped. “I said don’t!”  
  
Carol spotted Joan. “Oh! It’s you.”  
  
The two women stared at each other. “Um, um, hi,” Carol offered, and brushed a stray lock of hair out of her eyes.  
  
“You.” Joan’s eyes bored into her.  
  
“So, what have you done lately? Finished your Master’s?” Carol tilted her head back and forth.  
  
“I have to go.” Joan took a few steps back.  
  
“Forgive me!” Carol shouted, but it was no use. Joan turned and ran.  
  
Endeavour, deeply confused, turned on Carol. “What was that?”  
  
“It’s nothing, really. Let’s go get-”  
  
“What happened between you?”  
  
“You didn’t know?” She looked at him in puzzlement. “Crimony, I thought you would figure it out for yourself.”  
  
“Did you tell her-” He pointed to where Joan had walked away. “If you did-” He frowned, then turned in the direction Joan had run. Morse broke into a jog.  
  
“Hey! Come back!” Carol watched him run. He did not turn back.

After he figured Joan was not going to turn around, Endeavour entered the station. He dashed to Mr. Thursday’s office.  
  
The DCI was talking to a cadet. The younger man stood at ease, in front of the superior’s desk.  
  
Frederick broke it off. “Hello, Morse, what brings you here? Slow down.”  
  
“Ah, sir, it’s your daughter. What did you tell her, when you saw her before?”  
  
“I told her to leave. I couldn’t take a break. Did she go home?”  
  
“I don’t know, sir, I didn’t check.”  
  
“Well, don’t worry, I’m sure she’s fine.” He paused. “What’s wrong with you?”  
  
“Ah, yes, sure she’ll be all right. Goodbye now.” Morse turned and ran back out.  
  
Thursday half-stood out of his chair. He frowned for a moment, then sat down again. “Now, what were you saying, lad?” he asked the cadet.

An hour went by.  
  
In the Fireman’s Axe, a few regulars were hanging out. A waiter walked around and handed glasses of beer to people.  
  
He put down his tray on a table and wiped his forehead. Then he turned his eye to the corner.  
  
A woman sat there and sipped on a glass of something. She saw him, and nodded.  
  
“Can I get you another one? What are you having?”  
  
“Vodka,” she said. She brushed a hand through her black hair.  
  
The man nodded, and went to get the drink.  
  
Meanwhile, the woman pushed her glass around in circles. Four people came over and sat at a nearby table. They began to talk.  
  
One of them peered at the woman. He got up and walked to her.  
  
“Excuse me, did you used to work at a bank?”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“You used to be my preferred teller.”  
  
“Oh? Thank you.”  
  
“Just saying hi. I’ll be back to my seat, now.” He walked back and sat down again.  
  
The waiter brought the second drink. The woman paid. She lifted the glass and sipped.  
  
The people at the next table started a game of darts. The woman watched and smiled.

More time went by.  
  
Endeavour had ducked into every tavern in this part of the city. He was beginning to think Miss Thursday had left town. He figured just one more, and then call it a night.  
  
Morse stepped the Fireman's Axe. The lights were bright, and the conversation rose around him. He scanned the room.  
  
She wasn’t in the front hall. He stepped into a side room.  
  
Four men were lined up across from a dartboard. One of them laughed and plucked the last man’s shots out of the board. He stepped back to the throw line.  
  
Sitting nearby was a black-haired woman.  
  
He was relieved. “Miss Thursday,” he called out. She looked up.  
  
Her face fell, and her shoulders slumped. He walked over.  
  
Endeavour put his hand on a chair. She frowned, but looked down again, and said nothing.  
  
He sat. The waiter came over again.  
  
“Something for you?”  
  
“Ah, ale, please.”  
  
The man went to get Morse’s beer. Morse looked into Joan’s eyes.  
  
“I – I-” he said, and gulped. The beer arrived. He drank half of it in one go.  
  
Joan took a deep breath. “Things – things happen. I guess after I – said no to you-” Her eyes swelled up. She grabbed a serviette off the table and dabbed it over her eyes.  
  
Endeavour’s breath became shaky. “Now, don’t-”  
  
The waiter came by with another vodka for Joan, and another beer for Morse. Joan gripped the drink and sipped. Morse took another swig.  
  
“I hurt you more than you were willing to talk about.” Joan sighed.  
  
“Yes,” Endeavour murmured.  
  
“I’m sorry,” Thursday said, and cried some more. Endeavour stretched out his fingers.  
  
She looked at him. “I could have been – your-” She half-smiled. He did too.  
  
“You might want to make that round your last.” He twitched a smile. “It’s rich for me to say that.”  
  
“I’ll get a taxi.”  
  
“I’ll drop you off.”  
  
She stared at him. “Let’s… just not.”  
  
His eyes watered. “Don’t.” He cleared his throat. “Ah, how did you know?”  
  
“She wrote me a letter. Got rather graphic.”  
  
Morse blanched. “Oh.”  
  
Joan fought back tears. “I guess we’re never going to – going-” She sipped her drink again.  
  
The waiter came over again. “Another round?”  
  
“No, thank you,” Joan said with a smile.  
  
“Does she owe you anything?” Morse said.  
  
“No, she paid. Thank you both.”  
  
Endeavour nodded. The waiter left.  
  
Joan pushed her chair away from the table. She took a deep breath. “See you when I see you,” she said.  
  
“Wait.” Morse got up. Quick as a flash, he got between her and the door.  
  
She bent her head and cried. Morse blushed.  
  
“Don’t. Your father and mother will miss you.”  
  
“I remember last time. I – can’t just keep running away from all my problems.”  
  
“I’m a problem now?” Endeavour sighed.  
  
“But you did it.”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“This ruined everything. I can never look her in the eye again.”  
  
“Well, why didn’t you tell me you knew, since you already did?”  
  
“I was hoping you wouldn’t be kissing her again, for starters. Guess you still really like her.”  
  
“I don’t!”  
  
“You had to hurt me, huh?” She snorted. “Let’s get out of the way.” She stepped a few meters to the side of the door. “People have to get out.” Endeavour followed.  
  
“I guess I deserved it. What do I get for saying no?” Joan’s shoulders slumped.  
  
“I’m sure you didn’t – ah-”  
  
“There is no way you were with that woman in the pub for more than a few minutes and did not find out who she was.”  
  
“Ah-” Morse swung his head sideways. His fingers curled up. The nails made marks in his palm.  
  
“I know you were afraid of losing your job. If you were with me. Because you work for my father. Why shouldn’t I tell him? If you’re so scared of offending him, why did you pick my cousin?”  
  
“I was lonely. We got drunk.”  
  
“Somebody poured the beers down your face? Somebody held a gun or a knife to you?” she shouted. “Why shouldn’t I call my father and tell him? Why shouldn’t I take a cab to his house right now? How good was she? Pretty good, from the letter, it seems.”  
  
Endeavour drew back. His voice went up. “Don’t tell him! Don’t!”  
  
“The two of you may as well get married. I was right.”  
  
“Me and Carol? But I don’t-”  
  
“You and my father. You love your job.” She moved toward the door again. “I’ve got to go.” She grabbed the door and pulled it open.  
  
“Joan!” he cried out.  
  
Thursday spun around. “What?”  
  
She stared at him. “That was the first time you ever called me that – Endeavour.”  
  
He smiled a little. “What’s in a name?  
  
“I won’t say it again. You don’t seem to like it.” She stepped back through the open door. “Goodbye.”  
  
“Hey!” he called out. She turned around.  
  
“Don’t leave. I’m not proud of everything I’ve done. But-”  
  
In a flash, she was gone.

Time went by, as it always did.  
  
A week later, Endeavour had a thin film of stubble over his face. He rubbed his chin.  
  
He was in the main office at the station. Jim Strange walked up.  
  
“Want to go to the academy and train the youths a little? Don’t say no. You have to.”  
  
“I believe I have a sudden desire to go to the police academy.”  
  
“Good. Traffic shouldn’t be that bad.”  
  
“Car’s in the shop.”  
  
“Oh. Then enjoy the bus.”  
  
“Thank you.”  
  
Morse walked out to the stop. The bus arrived. He got on.  
  
The bus stopped down the block from the academy. He went inside and approached the front desk.  
  
“Hello, the name is Morse,” he said to the clerk, and showed his ID. “I am supposed to give a talk of some sort to the students.”  
  
“Oh, yes, that.” The young officer flipped through a book. “Room A-10. Down that hall. You’ll be talking to them about how to reduce violence in captures of suspects.”  
  
“Thank you.” Endeavour straightened his collar. 

An hour later, the talk a success, he walked back out into the hall.  
  
A man in his twenties said hello to him. “Hello, Sergeant. I haven’t seen you since – ah, that time.” He bobbed up and down on his feet.  
  
Endeavour blinked. “Sorry – PC Del Monte,” he said, reading the man’s nametag. The officer had light brown hair. The face barely set off the sergeant’s memory.  
  
“Ah, it was the service for Mr. Fancy.”  
  
“Oh. I remember, yes.”  
  
“Have you had a chance to place flowers at his grave?”  
  
“I have not. I will get to that as soon as I may.”  
  
“The grave stone is tasteful. They put a photo of him, a photo! Right into the surface. Well, enjoy your week.”  
  
“You as well.” Endeavour smiled briefly, and walked away.  
  
He strode outside and came to a vendor’s cart. He looked at the sign.  
  
“Ice cream, hot dogs, crisps – I’ll take a hot dog and a fruit juice, please.” Endeavour handed over a pound and received the change. In a minute, the cart owner handed him the food.  
  
Morse sat on a concrete wall. Officers and civilians came and went, in and out of the academy. He thought of what it might be like to slow down in a few years, and teach here permanently. It wouldn’t trigger his medical problems as much, like his job did now.  
  
He took a bite of the hot dog and sipped his drink. A confused-looking cadet walked up to the building.  
  
“Yes,” Endeavour called out, “if you’re going to be a policeman, that’s where you’ll have your classes.”  
  
“Thank you,” the man said. He couldn’t have been older than 25.  
  
“I’m a detective sergeant,” Morse said.  
  
“Oh!” the cadet said, and snapped to attention. Endeavour waved his hand.  
  
“Don’t worry. Just get to class, and listen.”  
  
“Thank you, sir.” The man rushed into the academy.  
  
The cadets were all getting younger these days. Morse smirked. He had noticed the name on the tag, on the lad’s shirt. Robert Lewis. Maybe he’d wind up stationed at Morse’s shop. Endeavour smiled.  
  
Endeavour stood up and stretched out his legs. He threw away his serviette, and scanned the passersby.  
  
One in particular caught his eye. He leaned in for a closer look.  
  
“Miss Thursday!” he called out.  
  
She turned. “Morse?”  
  
He ran up to her. “Where have you been? I haven’t seen you all week.”  
  
“Reading.”  
  
“What? The whole week? Ah, did you see anything?”  
  
“I took a course in challenges in social work.”  
  
“Oh, that sounds boring. Are you finished?”  
  
“Yes. I had classes twelve hours a day. We had to get the course done super-quickly. It was compressed, you see, to save time.”  
  
“Why wasn’t it here, in town?”  
  
“It was affiliated with their university.”  
  
“Oh. I see.” He smiled.  
  
Joan gave him a flat look. He wrinkled his nose. “Did you want to go with me to the shop, to pick up the car? I can call, to see if it’s ready.” He leaned back and forth on his feet.  
  
“Eh, okay.”  
  
Endeavour dashed for a phone booth. He made the call, and emerged in a couple minutes. “It’s ready. Let’s take the bus.”  
  
They got off at the auto shop. Endeavour went into the building and settled the bill. They got in.  
  
“Did you want me to get you something to eat?” Morse said, as he pulled away from the curb. Joan shook her head.  
  
They drove on, until he stopped at a light. “I’ll put the station on.” He turned on the radio, to the classical station, and drummed his fingers on the wheel.  
  
Thursday stared out the window. Minutes later, they rolled up at a second light. “If I didn’t know any better,” Morse said, “I’d say you were still cross.” He gulped. “And justifiably so.”  
  
She took a deep breath. “Was it worth it? Was she that good? I can’t be at the same dinners with her.”  
  
“I don’t – I can’t-”  
  
“Any other person on the planet,” Joan muttered.  
  
He drove on. They were getting close to Joan’s flat when he rolled to a halt, at a stop sign. He looked the other way, and she slipped out of the car.  
  
“Hey!” he called out, but she was already hastening away. “Hey!” He hit the gas and turned the corner.  
  
She reached the door and fumbled for her keys. He parked and jumped out. He was about to grab her elbow when she slipped inside and shut the door. She locked it.  
  
He pulled the doorknob, and slammed his fist on the door. “Damn! Open it! Right now!” He pounded some more.  
  
The door open. A woman in her early sixties looked out.  
  
“Yes?” she asked.  
  
“Oh, hello. You must be Miss Thursday’s roommate?”  
  
“Who is asking?” She had a London accent. Must have just moved out here.  
  
“I’m with the police.” He fumbled to get out his ID card.  
  
“Is she under arrest?”  
  
“Not at all. I just want to see if she’s all right.”  
  
The woman muttered something, and turned around to look for Thursday. She disappeared into the flat.  
  
Endeavour tapped his foot. He watched the birds flit in and out of the branches of a tree.  
  
He heard the older woman say something. “Oh. Come on, now. Don’t you-” There was the sound of loud coughing.  
  
More time went by. Still, no one came out. He was beginning to think Miss Thursday had just gone to sleep.  
  
He turned around when the woman came back to the door. “She’s very ill. Threw up all over the place, the poor thing.”  
  
“Ill? What? Isn’t this all rather sudden?”  
  
“I don’t know, mister, I’m just telling you what I know. I told her to rinse her mouth with water, drink something else cold, and lie down.”  
  
Endeavour tried to push past the door, but the woman held up an arm and blocked him. “You can’t do that,” she scolded.  
  
“But-”  
  
“No,” she said, and reluctantly, he nodded.  
  
“I can tell her you were looking for her,” the woman offered.  
  
“All right,” Morse said. “Have her call me.”  
  
“I’ll tell her.” The woman shut the door.  
  
Thoroughly defeated, Endeavour went to his car.

Every time a new month began, Morse told himself Miss Thursday would be back any day, that she would call her parents and come visit. She did not.  
  
A long time passed.  
  
He got tired of waiting. Endeavour went back to speak to the roommate he’d met on that night. She answered the door. “I remember you,” the woman said.  
  
“It’s Detective-” he began. She cut him off.  
  
“Yes, I remember. What is it?”  
  
“About the day the woman who used to live here ran in. Was she really sick?”  
  
“Yes, she was. She threw up everywhere.”  
  
“In the bathroom?”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“Tell me, did she head straight there, from the front door, or did she stop in her room?”  
  
“Stopped in her room. She was in there a couple of minutes. Then she came out of there like a shot. Oh, it was horrible. I felt so sad for her.”  
  
“Ddid she say where she was going? Did she mention any place outside of Oxford?”  
  
“Yes, she did. Said she was going to Reading, to study, for the rest of the year.”  
  
“Thank you. You’ve been a great help.”  
  
“Okay, mister. You be off, now.”  
  
Morse turned and ran to his car. 

It was dark by the time Morse drove into Reading. Miss Thursday would be in the graduate students’ housing, which would be on the edge of campus, surely.  
  
He rolled between the parking lots. He was on the third one when he saw a familiar shape walking down the lane.  
  
“Hey!” he cried out. He pulled the car over and leaped out.  
  
Joan looked up, and dropped her bag of books. Her eyes went wide.  
  
“Oh, great,” she said, and began to cry. 

“How are you?” he tried. She kept crying. He felt even more terrible.  
  
She picked up her bag. “Now I’m going to-”  
  
“Break your lease.”  
  
“Are you kidding? I’ve been teaching and taking classes, and I’m not about to just get up and leave.”  
  
“Do it anyway. You can come back by car to give your thesis defense.”  
  
“Oh-” She was exasperated. “It doesn’t make a difference now. I called my parents, so you know.”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“I called Sam, a couple of times. He’s still in the Army. They were going to make him a food inspector.”  
  
“Okay.”  
  
“Run off with you, now.” She made a ‘shoo’ gesture.  
  
He stood his ground. “No. I will not.”  
  
“Stubborn, eh.”  
  
“You try me. I talked to your flatmate.”  
  
“Oh?”  
  
“She told me something about the day you jumped out of my car.”  
  
“What was it?”  
  
“She said you made a stop in between the door and the bathroom.”  
  
“I probably looked in the linen closet. It was nothing.”  
  
“She said you were in your room. You took a couple minutes. Then you came out, and just got to the commode in time.”  
  
“Ah, I guess that was it. Fine, so what?”  
  
“What did you do that made you ill in so short a time?”  
  
“I don’t know. I guess it was-”  
  
“Did you take pills?”  
  
“No, I didn’t-”  
  
“Did you take too many pills?” he shouted.  
  
She looked down and began to cry again.  
  
He stepped closer. He reached out and took the bag from her hands.  
  
“So what if I did?” She sniffed. “At least I was sick. They came right up. Didn’t have time to work.”  
  
He stared at her. “You’re lucky!” he shouted. “Go to your flat. Now. Tell your roommate you’re going home.”  
  
“I could just stay here until my defense. It’s on Monday.”  
  
“No, you’re coming home.”  
  
She sighed. “I’ll need to call Mom and Dad, too.”  
  
“Do that.”  
  
He waited some twenty minutes. She emerged carrying a blue suitcase, and her bookbag. He picked up the suitcase.  
  
When he had put both bags in the trunk and shut the door, he opened the locks. They got in the car.  
  
He started the engine and put on the radio, at a low volume. He slipped into drive.  
  
“I made a mistake,” Endeavour said. “I don’t want to see her again. She doesn’t want to see me. I talked to her, after you left town.”  
  
“That so?” Joan looked out the front window.  
  
“She might come see your parents sometime, but she’ll probably be with your uncle.”  
  
“Uncle Charlie, huh?” Thursday sighed.  
  
Minutes later, she realized something. “Where are you taking me? I can’t go back to my parents’ house, and I moved out of my flat. This isn’t even the way to either place.”  
  
He stayed silent, until he rolled up to the curb in front of his house.  
  
He shut off the engine. Joan opened the door on her side.  
  
“If you want, I’ll take you to the Trenton. And drop you off at the front door.” Catching himself, he blushed.  
  
“You’re kidnapping me.”  
  
“Might be. A little.” He smiled.  
  
“I’ll take the couch,” she said.  
  
Endeavour opened the door. Joan put down her suitcase.  
  
She looked around. “This place is smaller than I figured. I didn’t think you’d have so many… knick-knacks. Did my Mom bring them to you?”  
  
“No, she did not. I got most of them at a charity shop.”  
  
“Hmm.” She nodded. “Planning on getting a pet?”  
  
“Don’t think so. I can barely take care of myself.”  
  
“A plant, maybe?”  
  
“I’d probably kill it.”  
  
“Well, show me to the couch.”  
  
She picked up her suitcase. He walked to a room and opened the door.  
  
“This isn’t the-” Joan said, looking around. He turned to face her.  
  
“I’ve been a good boy since you left. Wasn’t with anybody.”  
  
“Aren’t you sweet.”  
  
“Been taking my insulin every morning, like you said.”  
  
“Oh.”  
  
“Come here.”  
  
She stepped to him.  
  
They kissed. It went on for some time.  
  
The clothing wound up on the floor.  
  
Hours later, he closed his eyes and stretched out his arms. She put a hand on his chest.  
  
“What’s tomorrow?” he mumbled.  
  
“Saturday,” she said.  
  
“Thank God.” He snorted, and without opening his eyes, turned to face her.  
  
Joan stroked the hair on the side of his head.  
  
“Stay with me,” he mumbled.  
  
“I will,” she said.  
  
“You can’t take the pills again.”  
  
“I won’t.” She kissed him on the forehead.  
  
He threw an arm over her midsection. She put a hand on his shoulder.  
  
They fell asleep.


End file.
